1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY SUPPLIES FROM DIVISORIA

It sounds so konyo but I have been so accustomed to referring to Divisoria as Divi, it feels weird to say it otherwise :D With ze sister in tow, I went to Divi to buy initial supplies for Reese's birthday.

Divisoria is really the reliable go to place for cheap supplies, especially if you plan to buy in bulk. Quality and durability are different stories nonetheless but since I assume that we will only be using these items once or twice, I think they are still awesome deals compared to pricier counterparts in malls

To back track, we plan to have a safari jungle theme for Reese's party so here are the items I bought in Divi:

Disclaimer: Didnt post actual pics so as not to spoil the surprise and just googled images that came close ^_^

LOOTBAG STUFF

AWESOME FIND #1
BUBBLES
Price: 164 per box(24 pieces) or around 6.83 per piece
Kwento: Who doesn't love bubbles? At first, I couldn't think of a giveaway that would be a hit among children of different ages but when I saw the bubbles, couldn't believe I didn't think of it before! We'd definitely personalize the label of the bubbles, but that would have to wait for now

The actual design of the bubbles we got were cola bottles but this is the closest I saw on the net :D

AWESOME FIND #2
STICKERS
Price:4.50 per sheet x 36 sheets
Kwento: Notice that I got less stickers because we actually plan to give the bubbles to adults as well but the bubbles are purely for the kids. I initially saw a different sheet that had cuter stickers but at 8 pesos per sheet, it was out of budget so ze lady pointed me to these stickers. Luckily, I saw these Madagascar stickers and a 2nd design which fit perfectly our theme

Thanks to joiztolero.blogspot.com
Basta imagine nio nalang wild animal si Mickey.. ahehehe

AWESOME FIND #3
MINI PARTY HORN
Price: 21 pesos per pack of 24= .87 cents each
Kwento: I might be crazy for saying that I wasn't so happy with this purchase only because it was an impulsive purchase! Saw these in a store in Juan Luna and bought them immediately, only to realize that there were many other stores after that one! Still, at less than one pesos each item, we cant go wrong with these uber cute horns :)

DECOR AND SUPPLIES STUFF

AWESOME FIND #4
NITO PLATES
Price: 10 pesos per plate
Kwento: We call these Nito or Bistay in Bulacan but they only show up on Google if I type Nito. We have about 40 of these at home so I just bought a dozen to add up to our existing supplies. 
Disclaimer: They can be quite heavy or bulky when bought in a large number so limit your purchase to 2 dozens per person x number of people who will carry them home

AWESOME FIND #5
ANIMAL PRINT CLOTH
Price: 40 pesos per yard
Kwento: I think this cloth would look really tacky if used for an actual piece of clothing due to the sabog design and awfully large head of a tiger on the cloth but for my purpose, it's absolutely perfect! I'm thinking of cutting up this cloth for a variety of items so I didnt mind the sabog design at all.

The cloth looked something like this :D

It was a very tiring day but nonetheless very fulfilling. I think my stage mother hormones just increased by about a gallon. ahahahaha.. Till the next post!

To partey or not to partey- the 25,000 php budget extra challenge birthday party planning

Had a chat with a coworker today who has a lot of similarities with me- in terms of her current life status. Her son is also about to celebrate his first birthday this year and she mentioned her budget for their son's birthday- 40,000(since it will include baptism expenses also)

I was taken aback because up until this point, I was hoping that our budget for Reese's birthday would be 20,000 php tops. However, reality bites and after our enlightening conversation, I did some math and came up with these figures

Hubby and I could come up with this money but I at this point, I'm not sure that spending 25,000 for a birthday party that our son wouldn't remember excites me as much as it did last week. All the more that I am not so keen on it because of our Bacolod trip a month later, which would cost around 15,000 as well. So even though I have posted a number of entries about a safari jungle themed birthday, I am still on the edge and contemplating  whether we should push through with this party or just buy a jumbo palanggana for our boy who loves swimming. Kung pwede lang mag-alaga ng manok na kakatayin sa birthday nya, ginawa ko na. ahahahaha...

So I pray for enlightenment, and that further discussions with hubby would go well and that I'd find ways to further compress and minimize this budget. Chop-chop!

Safari themed candy buffet

Reese will have a swimming party for his first birthday and it would be more sensible to have an under the sea theme.However, I didn't want to over do the whole "blue vibe"- blue water, blue decor..might as well ask guests to come in blue. ahehehe.. Hence, I decided to go for a safari theme because of the wealth of decor possibilities.

Another thing that got me "hooked" were safari themed candy buffet decors! Candy buffets are prone to look very girly, probably because of the color of the candies and since most buffets are done by ladies and so I was thankful for a theme that would make our darling's candy spread all macho. :D

Case in point: The spread's mostly blue but it looks very dainty, doesn't it?

Here are some ideas that I found online which I plan to combine for Reese's candy buffet:

Notice that safari themed parties are big on orange and green....

and animal prints! loads and loads of animal prints!

Of course, the candy buffet won't be complete without cutie patootie containers

How creative...ah coco-nut nut!

Just thinking about all the things I have to do makes me anxious and very excited at the same time..Does anyone want to volunteer as my assistant in getting the decors ready? ahahahaa..

Chop-chop as I search for more scoops! :D

Pools for Rent in SJDM/Lagro/Fairview/Nova Area

*Updated on Feb 04 2014
Our baby Reese is a water baby. We hope we have the energy to take a video of him every morning before bath time. You should see how he gets all worked up knowing that bath time is about to follow- he wont stop jumping, he doesnt cry even if water gets in his eyes and he has "crazy eyes" even after we've dressed him up. Adding the fact that he wont remember it if we spend on a fastfood party, we decided to have a swimming party.

I so loooooove this photo because Reese looks like he's catching fish! :)

A private pool in Pansol would have been a more practical choice but we had to factor in the fact that particular guests did not have private cars and we would hate for them to miss the party because of that. So I summoned my googling powers yet again to look for pools that are somewhat within our area. Here's a rundown of the ones we checked, in decreasing order of preference:

1. "Lagro Swimming Pool"

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lagro-Swimming-Pool/130406040376571

If you clicked the link, then you would know that it's name, is, in fact, Lagro Swimming Pool. It just felt weird that the owner did not have(or fought off?) the urge to name the place something significant or unique. Anyway, this place is a stone's throw away from us.

Ocular Notes: The place was okay it looked like it can accomodate about 60-80 people, based on my initial assesment of the place. They said day swimming rate is 7500, good for 7am-5pm

2. Casa Milan Clubhouse

I have a friend whose family hosted his sister's debut here and his feedback wasnt so good but this is still very close to our house so I would like to keep it at the top my list.

credits to the owner

Ocular Notes: We decided not to include this in our choices anymore because of the inconvenience to guests. Since it is situated inside a private subdivision, guests without cars cannot visit the place easily

3. Aquaboy Resort

https://www.facebook.com/AquaboyResort

This is in Zabarte, which is about 15 minutes away from our house. The name doesnt do very well with me since it sounds very super hero-ish, but setting that aside, the place looks amazing.

Ocular Notes:

4. Casa Aurelia

https://www.facebook.com/CasaAurelia

Please do not ask me how I came to know about this resort because I just jumble the search words and somehow, I saw this. ahehehe! This place is about 20 minutes away from our house and it sounds promising because 1) It looks very similar to pansol private resorts and 2) some cousins have been here before, but I have yet to ask them how it was.

Ocular Notes:

5. A few private resorts in Fairview

These are about 20-30 minutes away from our house and they are all posted in sulit, so I have yet to check the name and other details

6. Kamarin Events Venue
Zabarte Road, boundary of Caloocan and Quezon City
Came across this place while looking for the resort where my sister will join her classmates. They also have an event hall, which according to the staff can accommodate 60-80 but in my opinion, can only comfortably fit 40-60,depending on the setup.

Ocular Notes: The pool was bigger than the others we've checked but I think there would be less space for guests. Price given was 5,800 for day rate good for 8am-5pm

Sorry that the some ocular notes are still blank.. We would do the oculars again real soon so I'd update them again in the future. Chop chop!

Writing Itch and our son's first birthday coming up!

I have a load of unfinished posts and as they say in the vernacular, tambak na! Honestly, I have pending write ups about a ton of things- from resto reviews to wedding related posts but with everything else going on, I just dont have the energy to properly finish a write up. And so my writing itch has been growing everyday so today, I decided I MUST PUBLISH SOMETHING

Luickily, I finally have a few things I can actually finish writing about. I finally got my Starbucks planner yesterday(which caused sleepness nights due to caffeine overdose and ruined budgets) and so I got very excited at the prospect of finally getting started with the planning of Reese's first birthday party!

I dont want to say much since I'm planning to blog about our selection process of every supplier and the flow of the actual event, but here are some pictures to give you an idea

So I guess you can say that I just got a booster of stage mother hormones, if you know what I mean.. Hihihih

Expect more entries to come about this birthday party planning. Ciao!

Zark's Burger- TAFT

I went to DOLE NCR this morning to process my boss' permit and was contemplating on whether I'd buy a BK stunner for my lunch or settle for a carinderia meal somewhere in front of the Bureau of Immigration(my next stop)..I was about to ride an fx, looked up and saw their logo and I decided to give it a go..After all, I rarely say no to an opportunity to have an awesome burger! Here are my notes to my first (and definitely not my last visit) to their Taft branch:

The Place:

'Twas my first visit and I was going up, I was still on the steps of the stairs but the smell was already very strong and inviting. Probably because of the structure of the building, their space reminds you a lot of a computer shop, only instead of the game posters, their posters are taped all over the place.

As you walk in, you'll be reminded a lot of a burger joint or watering hole in American shows and movies that you see- counter on the left side, small cozy tables and a live NBA game on the TV in the corner.

The Menu:

I was given a menu and true enough, there were about a dozen burger variations- the upper half choices are more "conservative", slightly bigger than your fastfood burgers, with a few similarities and distinctions that tell them apart. The bottom half were for those who crave for more- including their jawbreaker- which from research, I have gained to be one of their best sellers and surely seems to live up to its name.

I went for the Classic American burger which costs 120- with BLT and their classic patty. Add 20 and you get fries and an iced tea as well.

My lunch for that day. Yumyum!

They have unique dessert offering such as the fried mars and fried snickers and though I was interested to try them, they were a bit pricey at 125.

The burger:
The size of the burger was good enough-as I said, slightly bigger than your fastfood burger but not too big. What I hate about these type of burgers is that it's almost impossible to have every ingredient in one bite-on one bite, I had a looooooooooooong stretch of bacon that took at least 3 minutes to chew(hihihihi) and on another, it was all ketchup, buns and lettuce. Nonetheless, I knew that each ingredient was fresh and meticulously picked..and I loved it

A closer look: there was so much more bacon in person... ^_^

The fries:
Not much to say, except that they were fresh and not your "fast food" french fries that are so freakin thin and taste the same after a few days. These babies were freshly peeled potatoes and by the quantity, I'd say they used two small potatoes for every order.

Notes:
I wish the place would look more like a burger place from the outside. Like I said, it looked like a computer shop rather than a burger joint.
I'm not sure if I didnt notice it or there really werent any, but I'd love for their menu to have shakes and the like, to complete that American burger joint vibe.

My work entails a lot of visits to DOLE NCR so I know for a fact that this was just the first of many visits to come. See u soon Zark's burgers!

Because a Facebook status is not enough...

Tomorrow, Reese will go on his first swimming trip and I was about to post a Facebook status but from all the things I wanted to say, it was getting longer and longer so I decided to just blog...

I can't believe it's been 6 months since he came to our lives, 6 months since I first started comparing diaper prices and their absorbing power. Hubby and I(to fair, mostly hubby) have been waking up once or twice at night to attend to his needs for 6 months. We have been washing cloth diapers, feeding bottles, buying milk and water and taking care of a bouncing baby boy for six months. 

I remember how our life was before he came before I got pregnant. I remember the sound sleep(which I still get more than hubby), the milk teas I was able to afford, the climbs I was able to join, and my arms were not bound to carry a boy who gets kilig (at the thought of roaming around the house) when we step out of the bedroom. I remember not caring that much if traffic is bad because hubby would understand if I come home late, not caring if die before 50 because I know I lived a good life, not caring if we don't have savings because at least, we enjoyed the things we loved.

But now that Reese is here, we would always wake up once or twice at night when he needs a changin' or milk; I only drink milk tea whenever I have excess pocket money; I get left behind on climbs and miss out the jokes and the photo ops; I am digging deep in my soul my non-existent singing talent to lull a baby to sleep; I get pissed when traffic is bad because it means less time with Reese; I am learning to save (I'll get there someday, promise!), I am trying my best to eat less meat because I wanna be strong and able for Reese when he becomes a father.

So what I really wanted to say was.....my heart is swelling with love, pride, and joy that he is growing so well, that he is in our lives, that I became a mom.. and no amount of milk teas I missed and climbs I wasn't able to join would ever be better than having him. They simply fail by comparison.